First thing first: Sam's Town is a huge departure compared to Hot Fuss. I seriously doubt many fans of Hot Fuss, particularly those who happened to love synth rock, will like this album. Gone are the (mainly) British influence that made up the bulk of the first album. In is Bruce Springsteen, Meatloaf, Queen, Radiohead and U2 (who are way past it BTW - flame me if you will).
It took a couple of seating to get used to it. To be honest some of the tracks has less than ideal intros and I was usually tempted to skip through the tracks quickly (such is my attitude) but after letting go of the 'next' button I relaxed and started to enjoy tracks after tracks with no intervention.
Sam's Town won't blow your mind like Hot Fuss. It depends. If you were expecting Hot Fuss 2 then you will be disappointed. But trust me, while the sound isn't Hot Fuss-esque - it is definitely The Killers. In fact after a couple of seating I was able to trace nods to their previous best selling album. Traces of synth rock is still evident.
Songs are evidently influenced by the late 80s rock scene. Brandon Flowers vocals are evidently influenced by the likes of David Bowie and at times Meatloaf, whom I was a huge fan of back in the early 90s.
While a good album, there are a couple of bad tracks. I would say I prefer the first half of the album (not counting the interlude which was a waste of time) more than the second. My favourite track: The Iron Maiden-esque (lite of course - nobody can touch Iron Maiden) fourth track Bling (Confession of a King) which has an almost unheard of opening soaring guitars (in indie at least), When You Were Young, For Reasons Unknown and Bones.
Like I mentioned earlier. Forget that you are expecting Hot Fuss 2 (though it is much more similar than you might think). And don't skip the tracks!
Technorati tags: The Killers Sam's Town
2 comments:
It's a really great record. In some instances it's a radical departure, but then again, it's also a follow-up similar sounding record to the debut.
http://unsocial-commentary.blogspot.com/2006/10/killers-sams-town.html
Great review. Similar reaction too! I have been listening to it even more nowadays and finding myself liking it more and more. 7.5/10 hardly seems justified (I know you hate ratings!).
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